MOBILE - Alabama's port city woke up to tornado sirens Monday as rain and strong winds from Hurricane Gustav forced road closings due to flooding in coastal Mobile County.
There was no flooding in downtown Mobile, which was quiet with little traffic, or at the beach resorts in Baldwin County, where strong winds churned the surf.
While some roads were closed in Mobile County, the early sentiment was that Gustav would not rough up the area like Katrina did three years ago.
"It's not anywhere near Katrina," said Greg Weiskopf of Mobile as he videotaped the choppy surf on Mobile Bay's western shore.
At Orange Beach, a Baldwin County resort where Louisiana evacuees fled in droves, whistling wind whipped palm trees and light poles, but there were no signs of major flooding.
Louisiana evacuee Lori Leblanc came to a hotel in Orange Beach with her husband and two children expecting placid weather. Instead, she was awakened by crashing thunder in the middle of the night and stung by wind-driven sand as she took photos of the angry surf.
"I'm amazed by this, but I'd rather be here," said Leblanc, of Belle Rose, La. "It's not worth it staying (at home in Louisiana) with the kids. The weather just scares them too much."
Debbie Cologne of Chauvin, La., was worried about what will be left of her home, which is south of Houma near where Gustav was expected to make landfall.
"We're not gonna have anything left," said Cologne, staying with a group of relatives at a beach hotel.
Katrina left the fishing village of Bayou La Batre in wreckage and sent floodwaters past car windows in downtown Mobile. Rain was intermittent Monday morning, but emergency officials in Mobile County closed Dauphin Island Parkway north of Dog River and Shell Belt Road at Coden and the Dauphin Island Bridge due to flooding.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley also announced that President Bush has approved his request for disaster assistance in response to Hurricane Gustav. That clears the way for federal recovery aid when the storm passes.
On the western shore of Mobile Bay, off Dauphin Island Parkway, residents were hopeful damage would be minimal.
"I think we're going to be all right. It's not like Katrina," said Laura Koschalk, who lives nearby.
Katrina caused heavy flooding of communities nearest the shoreline of the bay. Koschalk said the floodwaters came to the front and back doors of her home, but it survived.
Sammy Geno, the captain of a 100-foot supply boat, said about 50 vessels tied up in the industrial canal south of Mobile, waiting out Gustav, were weathering the storm without serious problems. He said he drove his pickup truck through a flooded highway to reach his boat Monday morning.
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